The chief negotiator for Moldova’s Russian-backed separatist Transnistria says his team will no longer attend talks on the country’s future in areas under government control because he feared arrest.
Transnistria split from Moldova the year before the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union and fought a brief war against Moldova. It lies in eastern Moldova and borders Ukraine.
The two sides have held talks on resolving their differences, but tension has risen in recent weeks over Moldova’s imposition of customs duties that the separatists say will hurt its businesses. Moldovan officials described the latest talks earlier this month as „difficult”.
Transnistria’s foreign minister, Vitaly Ignatiev, said he was concerned about recent changes to Moldova’s criminal code toughening laws against separatism. He said he could no longer agree to alternating the talks between the Moldovan capital, Chisinau, and Tiraspol, the separatist region’s main town.
„No resident of Transnistria can be safe from criminal prosecution if he is on the other side of the Dniester River,” Ignatiev said, referring to the government-controlled area of Moldova.
„Within the context of our talks, we have repeatedly asked for guarantees against the use of repressive measures against citizens of Transdniestria. But Chisinau won’t provide them.”
The pro-European government in Moldova,which borders Romania and Ukraine, has pledged to press on with a drive to join the European Union.
President Maia Sandu has denounced Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and accused Russia of plotting to remove her. She says Moldova could join the EU initially without Transnistria, mentioning EU membership granted to the divided island of Cyprus in 2004.
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